One Last Challenge
by oh.sweet.sarcasm
Summary: ON HIATUS. War's end has brought happiness to all- except one. And that one, has come to get revenge. Revenge that will bring sorrow, pain, challenges and love that Katara thought was never meant to be. Multi-chapter Zutara fic.
1. Chapter 1: Surprise

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Hey guys! First fic here. Sorry if the story's a little.. i dunno, weird? :))

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Aang.. dangit**

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**One Last Challenge**

**Prologue:**

"I don't deserve to be in this place, I am the princess of the fire nation. I should be the Fire Lord, not my traitor of a brother. I am perfect; I don't need to be in a facility, and, best of all, I am the greatest fire bender in the world. Just you wait peasant girl, I _will_ get revenge..."

"Princess, it's time" I heard my door being unlocked and I looked up. A smile suddenly appeared on my face.

"Excellent"

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**Chapter 1: Surprise**

It's been a year since the war ended. Everything has changed. The world is slowly being reborn again. Aang's mastered the 4 elements and the world has come to forget about the traumatic experiences from the war.

"Katara, can I talk to you?" I heard Zuko's voice from behind. It was already dark and he's probably going to ask me to come in.

"Sure. What's up?" I glanced at his eyes and noticed that he still had the same sad glow as from last week. "It's about Mai, isn't it?"

"I just can't believe it happened." He turned around, probably trying to hide his tears. "It was all so sudden. I-I-I didn't mean it"

"We're all upset, too. But I guess you're just not really meant to be" I tried to say comfortingly.

He looked down.

"It's the thought of being in an argument with Mai, as my last time with her" He paused for a while, "Why can't I ever control my anger?!"

"Zuko," I placed my hand on top his shoulder, it always seemed to calm him down. "I know that the past couple of days have been really tough for you. And having that memory in your head, as your last time with her must really hurt. I know how you feel. It's like the universe hates you. Everything that reminds you of the person, just stings your heart. It's like-"

"OK, I get it, Katara"

"But remember that everything that ever happens has a reason, maybe, maybe something better is coming. Or-"

"I don't think anyone can replace Mai" He sat down on the floor and buried his head in his hands. I squatted beside him.

"It's gonna be okay" I whispered, "We'll all be here for you."

* * *

"Knock, knock. You better get in you two. Toph's almost done cooking supper"

Zuko looked up, "Oh, it's you. Yeah, we're coming…"

Finally, my brain processed what my brother just said. "What?! Toph can't cook!" I rushed inside. "Toph! What and _why_ are you cooking food? And more importantly, _our_ food?!"

I heard Sokka giggle, but I didn't mind him; I couldn't let Toph cook anything that _we_ had to eat.

"Re-lax!" She finally shot back, "I'm not gonna make twinkle toes puke this time. I did everything right!"

"I'm not taking the risk." I peeked in her cauldron, "What _is_ this?"

"Oh, it's just-"

"Ugh. I don't wanna know"

* * *

Once I convinced Toph to stop whatever she was trying to cook, I was finally in charge of the food. A couple of minutes later, supper was ready. I called in Aang, Zuko, Sokka, Iroh, Suki and Toph. Later on, we were all sitting happily, laughing and eating our food.

"And that time when I dropped Toph's belt on her head…" Aang said while laughing

"Yeah, I remember. I had a bump on my head for days!" We laughed some more. "You owe me big time for that twinkle toes!" Toph playfully punched Aang's arm.

_I love little times like this, when we're all together in one table, sharing memories, reminiscing on the days of our journey. If you come to think of it, a LOT has changed. The misunderstood person who was obsessed with "redeeming" his honor and tried to kill us once is now a dear, dear friend of ours. The playful little boy that I saw from the iceberg has matured and turned into such a powerful bender. He grew up and had even come to save the world. The little tomboy kid who we all loved, well, is still the same, but hey, she's loosening up. And me, the weak little girl from the southern water tribe, has fully transformed into a brave water bending master. We all dreaded this war. But we owe a lot to it as well. It made us into one big family, a family that truly loves and cares for each other. Yup, that's definitely us- Me, Zuko, Aang, Toph, Sokka, Suki and Iroh._

"Oh! Oh! And that time when-" He started laughing his maniacal laugh. "AHAHA! AHAHA! AHAHA!" We all just stared at him, waiting for him to continue what he was about to say. "AHAHA! AHAHA! AHAHA!"

"Uh-oh. Here we go again." Aang said in a teasing tone. "Calm down Sokka" He added, this time, while laughing.

"AHAHA! AHAHA! AHaha…" His voice started to drift away.

"Sokka?" I called. But his mouth just dropped open. I raised my eyebrow a bit and found the courage to speak again. But words couldn't find its way out my mouth, as much as I tried to. Of course, I needed to say _something_, anything.

This time, we were all quiet. Sokka pointed at the door but none of us dared to look.

_Dead silence… _

"Awww, having a family dinner are we? Why wasn't _I_ invited? Technically, I'm family too, right Zuzu?"

_Oh no. She's back…_


	2. Chapter 2: Secrets and Discoveries

**Hey! Second chap up! Let me take this moment to say, sorry that this chapter sucks :)) PEACE! It only took me a couple of hours to both write AND upload this fic :)) I know I have several errors, but due to very little time, it might take a while before I fix them all :))**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Aang.. dangit**

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**Chapter 2: Secrets and Discoveries**

_But how? How is this even possible? NO, this can't be… NOT again._

"Azula…" Zuko said knowingly

"Well duh" she shot back in an annoying tone "I _am_ the only one who calls you Zuzu, right? Who'd you expect?" she chuckled. "Dad?"

On cue, Toph, Aang, Sokka, Suki and Iroh stood in position. They looked like they were ready to strike anytime.

"Look Azula, we don't want to fight you." I said, before any damage or violence was done.

"What!?" Toph looked at me. "Yes we do!!!" She turned to Azula, "Hey nut-head, in case you didn't know yet, Aang here has already mastered the four elements, so any second now he could-"

"Yeah, yeah" Azula cut her off. "I'm not here to kill you all, well, not yet. I just dropped by to brag to you all about my new discovery"

_She has completely lost it_

"What discovery?" Aang asked and then lowered his staff, as if putting his guard down."

"Oh, just this little orb" she smirked evilly. "Well, see you later guys… And by the way-"

"What?" Suddenly, she blasted our vase and laughed uncontrollably. Right after that, we all shot everything we've got at her. Sadly, as usual, she left just in time.

_Why must this always happen?_

"Oh no…" Aang said. "This is bad. We _gotta _do something"

"She now knows about the Avatara" Iroh added, in a tone that sounded a lot like a mixture of sadness, disappointment and fear. "I agree with the Avatar, we must do something."

"But what can we do?" I asked "We're not even sure where she's going and what's she's going to do."

Sokka took his plate and started eating. _Oh Sokka… "_Whush ick thoash oarg engoay?"

"What??" we all asked at once

He swallowed everything stuffed inside his mouth, which took some time, on account of my brother eats like a pig that has been deprived of food for several years. "I said," He spoke up "What is that _orb_ anyway?"

"I'm not that sure." Aang replied. "I've heard stories about it from the Monks. I thought the orb was only a myth, but now that there's a possibility that it _is_ true, maybe the stories I've heard are true, too."

"What _have_ you heard, Aang?" Toph asked

"I don't remember much. But I do remember something about great power…and destruction"

We all stood there silently with different ideas about what Aang just said about the "orb" and more importantly, what Azula wants with it and what she _can_ do with it. In the midst of the silence, we noticed that Suki was walking near the broken vase.

"Hey guys" She spoke up. "I just thought of something."

"What?" We all asked in unison.

"Why would Azula, hit _this_ vase. She could've hit anything or any_one_"

"Maybe 'cuz it's big?" My brother asked sarcastically "Oh and it causes a lot of mess!"

"No." She started turning over each piece of the remains of the broken vase. "Help me. Flip over every piece until you find something, _any_thing_._"

Before anyone could start helping, Toph spoke up. "There" she kicked the floor and suddenly, a broken piece flew up the air.

"Here we go" Suki smiled. "Thanks, Toph"

"Okay, please explain to me whatever is happening." Sokka said

"Well, we all know that Azula may be-"

"Insane? Has cracked? A nut-head? Loony?" Toph said, trying to continue Suki's sentence.

"Yes, all of those, but still, she's very smart and _very_ tricky. After she left, I thought of two things. One, she can't be here just to brag. There _must_ be a reason, something really, really important. Two, she surely hit that vase for a reason, too. If there's one thing Azula's good at, it's making foolproof plans. Now, finding loopholes in those "foolproof" plans is _our _job."

"Yes, she has a point." Iroh commented

She nodded "Which is exactly why I was trying to find something that might've been hidden in the vase that was gravely important." She smiled broadly and looked at the piece of paper that Toph found. "Now, let's see what we've got here." She paused for a while then raised her eyebrow. "All it says is Avatara and Spirit World."

I looked at Aang. "What do you think that means?"

"It's the orb; the spirit world and our world are greatly connected to it."

"Aang, tell me everything you know about that orb"

"I pretty much said everything I know."

"But we need to know more." I turned to Iroh "What do _you_ know about it?"

"All I know is that, like what the Avatar said, it contains great power. The power it possesses, if in the wrong hands, can lead to the destruction of both the spirit world and our own." He sat down. "Other than that, I have no more information that we can trust. The rest are simply rumors." He looked at Aang. "You must go to the spirit world and talk to Roku. I am sure that he knows a lot about it."

"But-"

"Go on, we only have little time." With that, Aang sat down on our mat and started meditating. A couple of seconds later, his arrows glowed.

_Wow, I can't believe how fast he can go in and out the spirit world nowadays. He really has improved- as a bender, a person and an Avatar._

"What do we do now?" Zuko asked.

I sat down next to him. "Wait and rest. We have a lot ahead us. I just know it."


	3. Chapter 3: The Spirit World

**_Hey! SORRRRYYY for that loooong pause :)) Got to carried away in reading HP :D Anyway, sorry for the rushed ending :)) Why must I have no ability in writing?? WHYYY?!?!_**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Aang.. dangit_**

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**The Spirit World**

_Aang's POV_

"Hello, Aang" said a familiar voice from behind

I turned around and looked up. There, stood an old man with a white beard long enough to reach his chest. His hair was long as well but it was only long enough to lie on his shoulder blades. His red clothing indicated that he is, or should I say, _was_ from the Fire Nation.

"Roku" I stood up silently and wondered how I was going to start what I was supposed to say. _Azula escaped, Roku. She came to our house and broke our vase._ No, no, that might be too direct. I need to sound confident. _How are you, Roku? I'm fine; except Azula escaped her mental institution and I think she's planning to destroy the world._ "I-I have bad news" _Gee Aang, you sounded very confident. "_It's…about Azula"

"You're afraid that after her escape, you will have to relive those 3 years again don't you?" He patted me on the shoulder. "I understand, Aang. But I know you can do it. You've done it and surely you can do it again."

"But-"

"Be confident, Aang-"

"-she's trying to find the Avatara" I blurted out

"Oh dear" he pointed to a small pond near to where we were standing. "Under that lies the Basilisk. It is the most knowledgable spirit on the topic of the Avatara." I nodded and stared at the pond ahead of me. "But be warned, you must not look at it directly in the eye. A single glance can kill you instantly." I tried not to look as frightened as I really was. I nodded again as he placed his hands on my shoulders. "Don't be afraid" he added as he watched me walk nearer and nearer to the pond.

"_Don't look at it directly in the eye"_ I whispered to myself. Sure, _VERY easy._

I took deep breaths when I reached my destination. I stared at it for sometime while I muttered "_don't look at it directly in the eye" _over and over. I took one final deep breath and jumped in. After a couple of seconds, I hit cold, hard ground. "Ouch" I whispered. I closed my eyes as I walked around, while taking small steps. I listened closely around me for any movement.

"Hello?" I called. "Basilisk? Are you in here?"

I felt sudden vibrations from the ground. It felt terribly heavy and I didn't have any idea how long it was, I had to close my eyes, no matter what the circumstance. I closed my eyes tighter as I took more small steps.

"Well what do we have here?_" _I felt it move swiftly until it was finally in front me. I felt its heavy breathing and putrid breathe. "Well mark my words. It's the _Avatar_"

"How'd you know I'm the Avatar?" I asked.

"I reckon Roku sent you to me?" it said, not answering my question.

"Yes. But how did you know?" I asked again and closed my eyes even tighter.

"I can feel him in you. I can feel _all_ of your past lives in you" it said in a cold, dark voice. "So what brings you here, other than the instructions of Roku?"

"I wanted to, ask you, about the, _Avatara_" it moved again and circled around me, as if trying to catch me with my eyes open

"The Avatara…" its voice drifted off. "Oh how much destruction it brings. Oh how many citizens' lives it destroys. What joy"

"Yeah, well I wonder if you could tell me more about it." I said calmly, this time.

"It is one of the most powerful and _deadly_ objects in our universe-" it said as it finally stopped circling me. "-just located in the northwestern Earth Kingdom." It started moving again and added, in a matter-of-fact tone, "Hidden just beside Mt. Makapu which I am sure you are most familiar with."

"But what- how- how is it powerful?" I asked, "What can it do?"

"The person who has the Avatara in possession will be able to hold such great power…" it paused for a couple of seconds and just when I was about to ask it to go on, it added, "The holder shall be able to control anyone, anything, anything at all, in his own free will. Nobody can fight it" I heard the Basilisk make a sound resembling to a chuckle. "The last time it was in someone's possession, the entire human and non-human race was enslaved for years, until of course, I came for a visit." It heaved a heavy sigh and continued, "That was when I was still alive. Exactly 1000 years ago, today" I nodded. I had all the information I wanted. I needed to go back to the real world as soon as possible.

"Well, uhm, thank you, Basilisk. You were very helpful and, I, uhm, should be going now." I started walking backwards, careful not to hit anything. "Thank you again."

"Wait, young Avatar." It called just as I was under my exit route. "I would like to show you something very quick." It slithered towards me, "If you could just, open your eyes…"

"I- I don't think that would be a good idea."

"C'mon, avatar, don't be afraid. Looking at me doesn't really kill you"

"It doesn't?" I asked

"Well _of course_ not" its voice not nearly close to convincing.

"If you're sure…" I said quietly.

"Go on" it replied with eagerness in its voice

I slowly loosened the way I closed my eyes and just as I felt it slither closer and closer to me, I crouched down and the next thing I knew, I felt a strong wind push me upwards, followed by a huge splash of water. I opened my eyes and found myself lying beside the pond in where the Basilisk lies under. I hurried and started meditating.

* * *

"Aang!"

"The Avatara," I looked into Katara's eyes with fear, my voice trembling. "When Azula gets it-"

"-_if_ Azula gets it," she corrected me

"_-If _Azula gets it, she can be able to control anything and_ anyone_…"

"_No_" she gasped. "We've _got_ to stop her"


	4. Chapter 4: Start of The Journey

**A/N: Well! That was a looong pause :)) Anyway, here's chappie 4 of this freakishly terrible fic. Please R&R!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Aang.. dangit!**

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**One Last Challenge**

**Chapter 4: Start of The Journey**

**Katara's POV**

"Kinda like going back to before war's end, huh?" Zuko tried to make a conversation while we were packing for our journey.

"Yeah…" I looked up at him after placing some extra supplies in a bag. "Hey Zuko?"

"Hmm?"

"What if-" I thought hard if I should continue what I was about to say, but I somehow built the guts. "What if we can't do it the second time?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what if we don't succeed the second time? For all we know, Azula might've gotten something to make her stronger. Maybe-, maybe-"

"Katara, calm down" I knew it. I just went back to packing because I knew that he'd just tell me that it's alright and it's gonna be fine. Stuff I've heard enough of over the past years. "I can't lie that I'm confident we can take her the second time." I looked at him, shocked and open-mouthed. I guess he noticed my reaction and put up a smile, a genuine smile, something I haven't seen for a long time now. "But I am confident that we'll get the Avatara before she does."

"How?"

"Well, for one, we have the actual Avatar. You know the one who maintains balance and peace in the world? The one who can control the 4 elements? Your-" he paused for a short moment and almost choked, "-boyfriend" I couldn't help but laugh at his last statement

"Aang's not my boyfriend!" I laughed some more. "We're just friends. We broke up months ago, Zuko. You know that, I see him as a brother and I'm pretty sure he just sees me as a sister."

"Ohh! Well then, mind if I help you there?" His voice brightened up, something to me, sounded very peculiar.

"Uh, sure." He helped me lift our bag of food up Appa's saddle. I sighed as I thought about what might happen in our second journey. We barely made it alive in the first war, I'm just not sure if barely could be good enough this time. I looked long and hard at our home, a.k.a Zuko's palace. This may be the last time I see this in a long time. This place bonded us together and a lot of memories were shared. I glanced from the palace to Aang, then to Toph, to Sokka and last, to Zuko. _Zuko_. He was helping the gang put more stuff on Appa. I never noticed how he looked. The way his eyes shimmered-… Oh _No_, _no_. Calm down, Katara, you don't like him. He's your friend. I mean, so what if he _does_ make you feel great whenever you're with him? So what if he risked his life to save yours once? So what if-

"Katara, we need to go"

"W-what?" I choked up when I heard the voice of the person I was having a debate about.

"We need to go. Get anything else you wanna bring with you. The others are ready. C'mon"

"O-oh, okay. I'm coming" I took one last look at our home and Iroh since we can't bring either of them. The palace, well, for obvious reasons, and Iroh, he'd done so much; we can't bear to drag him into this. He was too old now, wise as ever, but too weak to carry on. I breathed as much fresh air as I could, turned around and headed for Appa. It was hard to walk fast; the moment was perfect and possibly the last one of its kind. The wind kissed my cheek and blew the branches of the trees, giving it that old, familiar sound of peace

* * *

"Where are we?" I asked, day 2 of our journey to the North-Western Earth Kingdom

"Well, we're probably here- and we need to go here-"

"We're lost aren't we?" I said plainly

"What?!" He answered in a fake-hurt voice, "What makes you say that?"

"Well, maybe because of my natural skills, or maybe because I've known you too long, or maybe 'cause I'm just a really wise perso-"

"It's a blank piece of paper." Zuko interrupted, pulling the paper out of my brother's hands.

"-and that" I added, refusing to deny the fact that everything I said was still true.

We all broke out into laughter, which soon turned into screaming and a series of hitting, concentrated on one person. My idiotic brother, just after he said blankly, "Yeah, we're lost." _Way to ruin a moment_. "But I'm sure we can find our way to our destination. All we need is to rely on my instincts."

"Oh no." said Aang, followed by Toph's "Nu-uh" and my "Not that again, Sokka. _Please_" All of us leaving a very amused and confused Zuko.

"Oh yeah, what do you guys plan to do?" He asked mockingly.

"I've got an idea, why don't we ask someone?" Toph said sarcastically. We all agreed, except for a certain one who insisted on using his trusted "instincts". Soon, we landed on the nearest town and approached, on my opinion, and I thought in my brother's as well, a very beautiful woman.

"Excuse me, miss" I said softly. "We were wondering if you could give us directions to the North-Western Earth Kingdom. You see, my brother got us lost and we really haven't been traveling for a while now" I added in a hard-to-miss annoyed tone but tried to be sweet at the same time.

"Oh, you're not really far." She answered. Her voice was undeniably sweet. "Just a couple of-" she cut herself from her sentence when she finally looked up, "Well! You're the Avatar!" _Oh great. A fan, just what we needed. _"So you must be Katara," _Well that's better._ "-Toph, Sokka and" she made a gasp of excitement, "What an honor, Fire Lord Zuko…" followed by a bow and a huge grin.

"Nice to meet you, er-"

"Dakota" she said

"Yes, nice to meet you, Dakota, but about the directions we were asking for,"

"Oh yeah, sorry" she said, still smiling, "Just turn left here and walk straight until you reach a really deep forest. The North-Western Earth Kingdom is just across it"

"Thank you." I said sincerely

"My pleasure! My pleasure! I do hope I see guys soon."

Hurriedly, we went back to Appa with high hopes that we may find the Avatara before Azula did.


End file.
